Kai Broomfield woon her doubles and singles matches on Friday at Winthrop

April 4, 2014

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Closing out a four-game road stint against the third ranked opponent over the span, the No. 71 Marshall women’s tennis fell to No. 62 Winthrop, 4-3, on Friday afternoon at Memorial Courts.

The Thundering Herd drops to 11-6 overall in the spring, while the Eagles improve to 12-4 with the victory. Marshall is now 2-5 against ranked foes and 6-5 on the road in dual matches this season.

“I just felt like we weren’t up to the task today as we were in a position to win, but weren’t able to be successful,” said Marshall coach John Mercer. “Now we just have to come back, regroup and ready to play hard in every spot if we want to be competitive. I just think we kind of shot ourselves in the foot today.”

Getting out to a quick start as the road team, the Herd would capture the doubles point with an 8-5 win from senior Karli Timko (Houston, Pa.) and freshman Anna Pomyatinskaya (Sochi, Russia) in the No. 2 position and an 8-2 victory by junior Kai Broomfield (Toronto, Canada) and freshman Rachael Morales (Reynoldsburg, Ohio). Winthrop would win the No. 1 doubles contest, but it was not enough to keep Marshall from grabbing a 1-0 advantage in the dual match.

With the Herd looking to maintain a head of steam heading into singles play, the Eagles did not bend on their home courts. Winthrop would get hot and win the first three singles matches to finish, catapulting them to a 3-1 lead in the contest.

In the No. 6 singles spot, Morales grabbed a singles victory of the two set variety, 6-1, 6-4, to finish the day unbeaten. After the win by the first-year member of the Herd, Marshall pulled within one point with three singles matches to play, 3-2.

Holding onto aspirations of a comeback with two singles matches still to be completed, the Herd was denied by Winthrop as the Eagles secured a win on the No. 5 singles court to clinch the dual match victory.

Following suit with her doubles partner, Broomfield collected a three-set victory, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, to finish the day with an individual sweep and bring the final match score to 4-3 in a losing effort for Marshall.

Marshall will return home to close the weekend with a home match vs. Cincinnati on Sunday that will include a Senior Day ceremony for Timko. The dual match is set to being at noon ET from the Brian David Fox Tennis Center.